Category:
Bathrooms
Bathrooms
Hitler’s Toilet Seat
December 1969: ex-RAF pilot Guy Harris put a toilet seat up for auction that he claimed to have removed from Hitler's bunker in Berlin. He said he had found it in the private apartment used by Hitler and Eva Braun.According to Harris, he and other British soldiers had been allowed in the bunker by the Russians, who had already removed everything they believed to be of value. But they evidently hadn't thought Hitler's toilet seat was of any value. So Harris took it.
When he got back to England, he first installed it in his 90-foot yacht on the Thames. Later he moved it to his home in Twickenham, before finally deciding to sell it.
There's no record, however, of whether he did manage sell it. At least, none that I can find.
Albany Democrat Herald - Dec 18, 1969
Los Angeles Times - Dec 17, 1969
As it turns out, Harris wasn't the only soldier to have nabbed a Hitler toilet seat. There are two more floating around out there. One was taken from Hitler's mountain retreat, the Berghof. The other from Hitler's private yacht, the Aviso Grille. This latter one is currently located in an auto repair shop in New Jeresy. More info: Anchorage News
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 16, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Bathrooms, Dictators, Tyrants and Other Harsh Rulers, 1960s
Porpoise in toilet
I've heard of alligators in the sewer, but not porpoises in toilets.I haven't been able to find out if there was ever a solution to the mystery of how a porpoise came to be in the toilet of the Glasgow train station. I'm assuming student pranksters were probably involved.
Ottawa Journal - Dec 7, 1965
Posted By: Alex - Mon Jul 27, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Animals, Fish, Bathrooms, 1960s
Clean Hands Assured
Claude Davis of Melbourne, Florida obtained a patent for this curious device in 2000. It seems newly relevant in the era of coronavirus.The gadget attached to bathroom doors. Whenever someone turned the handle to open the door, the gadget would spray their hand with dye. This, reasoned Davis, would encourage people to wash their hands, to remove the dye. He imagined his invention might be useful in restaurants and hospitals that have "statutory type hygiene requirements to have their staff and employees clean their hands after using restroom facilities."
Although the invention had good intentions, I can think of several problems with it.
First, I'm sure that most employees would find it incredibly obnoxious to have their hand sprayed with dye every time they went to the bathroom.
Second, wouldn't the gadget also spray dye whenever someone exited the door... spraying into empty air? In which case, half the dye would be wasted. I can imagine employees standing on the inside of the door, pumping away at the door handle until all the dye was used up.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 19, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Bathrooms, Hygiene, Inventions
The Standard Toilet
Created to discourage employees from sitting on the toilet too long. As explained in wired.co.uk:the StandardToilet sits at a downward angle of 13 degrees. After around five minutes of sitting, this will cause strain on the legs, similar to a low level squat thrust, but “not enough to cause health issues,” reassures Mahabir Gill, founder of StandardToilet. “Anything higher than that would cause wider problems. Thirteen degrees is not too inconvenient, but you’d soon want to get off the seat quite quickly.”
It was inspired by a series of annoyances. As a consulting engineer for 40 years, Gill sometimes discover workers asleep on the toilet, and in his free time, was increasingly annoyed by queues for public toilets. The final straw came while he was shopping in a department store the morning after a particularly heavy night out, and in desperate need for a toilet, could only find locked cubicles. Thus, the idea for the StandardToilet was born.
It was inspired by a series of annoyances. As a consulting engineer for 40 years, Gill sometimes discover workers asleep on the toilet, and in his free time, was increasingly annoyed by queues for public toilets. The final straw came while he was shopping in a department store the morning after a particularly heavy night out, and in desperate need for a toilet, could only find locked cubicles. Thus, the idea for the StandardToilet was born.
I can imagine this would do wonders for employee morale.
More info: standardtoilet.net
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 18, 2019 -
Comments (5)
Category: Bathrooms
Velvet-Lined Bathtub
Back in 1936, interior decorators predicted a popular future for velvet-lined bathtubs.I can only imagine they would have been a nightmare to clean.
Pottsville Republican and Herald - Dec 4, 1936
Emery County Progress - Nov 27, 1936
Update: Thanks to our knowledgeable readers, Floormaster Squeeze and KDP, for pointing out that Steve Martin had a line in one of his routines about buying a fur-lined sink. I found the clip on YouTube (audio only, unfortunately). The fur-lined sink reference occurs less than a minute in.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 13, 2019 -
Comments (7)
Category: Bathrooms, Baths, Showers and Other Cleansing Methods, 1930s
Another Exploding Toilet
In Port Charlotte, Florida, a lightning strike ignited methane in the sewer system, which then caused a toilet inside a house to explode. The plumber who later came to investigate noted: "This is probably the first time in history something like this has happened."Well, maybe it's the first time lightning has caused a toilet to explode (I'm not sure... can't think of another example offhand), but it's definitely not the first time a toilet has randomly exploded. That's a recurring weird-news phenomenon. Other instances we've posted about here, here, and here.
More info: Wash Post
Posted By: Alex - Sat Aug 10, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Bathrooms, Explosives
Latchkey Incontinence
As defined by a 2015 study published in the journal Biomedical Research:environmental cues are reported to be related to OAB [Overactive Bladder] symptoms. The cue that is most mentioned was upon arrival at an individual’s front door is defined as “latchkey incontinence”, which is a loss of urine that occurs when one arrives home and puts the key in the lock of one’s front door
Basically, it's the phenomenon that the closer you get to the bathroom, the more urgently you have to go.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 09, 2019 -
Comments (5)
Category: Bathrooms, Body Fluids
Hardcore Toilet for Wrestling Action Figures
It's a miniature toilet (3 inches tall) intended as an accessory for WWE Wrestling Action Figures. The product description notes: "Lids goes up and down and top lids is removable like a real toilet... Perfect for all past and present wrestling figures!"I guess even action figures need to use a toilet every now and then.
Available on Amazon for $13.99.
via Worst Things for Sale
Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 01, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bathrooms, Toys
The Masculine Toilet
It's a toilet specially designed for men who suffer from being too well endowed. It's been in the news recently because the current acting Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker, once worked as the lawyer for the company that patented (or sought to patent) it. From the 2014 press release announcing the "Masculine Toilet":The average male genitalia is between 5" and 6". However, this invention is designed for those of us who measure longer than that. I estimate that a 12" distance is adequate enough for most well-endowed men, though I would not be surprised if there are cases who need a greater distance. Nevertheless, for the time being, this is a good starting point.
The Masculine Toilet reminds me of the Toilet Sanitary Shield For Men, which we posted about back in 2015. That was another device designed for men with oversized equipment.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Nov 16, 2018 -
Comments (2)
Category: Bathrooms, Inventions
Glow Bowl Fresh
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 17, 2018 -
Comments (3)
Category: Bathrooms, Hygiene, Body Fluids, Excrement, Chindogu
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |